MIDDLETOWN – Work is expected to begin this summer on the long-awaited Port Monmouth Flood Control Project.

The first phase of the project includes dune restoration, beach replenishment, new stone groin work, extension of the county’s fishing pier and construction of 2,640 feet of protective dunes, which will involve roughly 400,000 cubic yards of sand.

“This is outstanding news. Middletown has been waiting nearly 20 years for this crucial flood control project to get underway,” Mayor Stephanie Murray said . “It’s is an important project for the Bayshore and an integral component of our recovery from the ravages of Super Storm Sandy.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $17.7 million contract on Monday, May 12, for the first phase of the Port Monmouth Coastal Storm Risk Management Project to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company of Oak Brook, Illinois.

The project will reduce the risks that coastal storms pose to residents and businesses in the Port Monmouth area. The project will be federally funded through the Sandy relief package approved by Congress in January 2013. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be holding a public information session on the project.

The Port Monmouth Flood Control project is designed to address major flood prevention to protect the low-lying residential and commercial areas in the Port Monmouth section of Middletown. The project’s second phase will include constructing a system of levees, a floodwall and nearby pump stations.

The levee will extend from Port Monmouth to Route 36. The entire $110 million project will be funded by the Sandy relief package and will offer significant protection to the area, which has suffered frequent flooding, erosion and damage from rain and coastal storms in recent years.

As a result of Super Storm Sandy, more than 750 homes were damaged in Port Monmouth, 200 of which were considered to be substantially damaged, according to Township Administrator Anthony P. Mercantante.